The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) Marco Mendicino took part in a press conference during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa on Monday, June 8, 2020.

Mendicino indicated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there needs to be a complete overhaul of the immigration application process amidst the pandemic. “IRCC needs to act quickly to develop (i) updated and new strategies, and (ii) processes and digital systems to cope with the rapid change it is undergoing” as there will be an inordinate amount of pending application to process once the travel restrictions are lifted.

Canada’s immigration goal was to bring in 341,000 in 2020, but latest numbers as of March 2020 shows an overall drop of 30% in immigration. In order to keep up with the goal of bringing in new immigrants, Canada has a long way to achieve the target goals. In an earlier interview, Mendicino indicated immigration continues to be “vitally important”, especially the work of newcomers, which is essential to the Canadian market.

Although Mendicino has not commented on whether the immigration levels with proceed as originally planned, it does appear that he is a supporter of opening up immigration programs to allow more temporary workers into Canada.